Search results for pollinator food

A new study by Penn State researchers has found that using not one but multiple pest treatments may help honey bees survive the winter and make it to spring.

Throughout this webinar series, presenters have discussed the diversity of bees and the challenges that they face. Oftentimes people feel as if there isn’t much that they can personally do in order to help bees. However, in the final webinar of the series, Penn State Extension educator Connie Schmotzer discusses how to create a pollinator-friendly environment in your own garden.

By Chuck Gill

A global research team led by Penn State was the first to study how extreme heat waves affect the host-pathogen relationship between two species of solitary bees (Osmia cornifrons and Osmia lignaria) and a protozoan pathogen (Crithidia mellificae).

U.S. college students’ knowledge of bees focuses primarily on honey bees and pollination services, according to Penn State researchers, who said findings from their recent study could help in designing campaigns to generate support for protecting threatened pollinators.

The newly launched Insect Biodiversity Center at Penn State will create a focal point for the study and conservation of insects and the ecosystems with which they interact. The center brings together faculty researchers and educators from eight Penn State colleges.

Animal mediated pollination supports nearly 90% of plant species. Animals also gain nutritional benefits from this process. Bees collect pollen from flowering plants to feed to their offspring, and thus bee and flowering plant species have coevolved to benefit both species involved.

Warm, wet weather conditions and changing climate negatively influence the nectar intake and nutritional health of honey bees, but maintaining large tracts of grassy natural habitat with flowering plants around apiaries may help to mitigate the detrimental effects of climate, according to a new study by an international team of researchers.